Medicare Advantage Holds the Key to Reforming the ACO Program

The movement to value-based care is alive and well, with the Trump administration eager to put their own stamp on the program. In one of his first major speeches as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar said value-based care “needs to accelerate dramatically.” This reprises the administration’s draft 2018–2022 strategic plan for HHS and statements by Seema Verma, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Given the sustained support for models that encourage paying for value, it is worth asking just how value-based payment models in Medicare might evolve to meet the administration’s objectives and approaches. The centerpiece of CMS’ alternative payment models is accountable care organizations (ACOs), which now cover 10.5 million seniors in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) alone, and many millions more commercially insured patients.